This application claims the priority benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 10-303656, filed Oct. 26, 1998, the entire subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the invention
The invention relates to an image-input device for capturing an image of physical characteristics of a human body, such as that of an iris pattern, for identification.
2. Description of the related art
Conventionally, fingerprints, which show a physical characteristic of the human body, are used to identify individuals. However, in recent years, attention has been focused on some security systems using an image of an iris pattern of the eye as a physical characteristic of the human body for identification. In these systems, an image-input device is used for capturing an iris pattern as image information from an eye and for storing the pattern in a memory of a computer, and then, the individual is identified by his/her iris pattern.
In the related art, the image-input device includes a camera for capturing the iris pattern of a user and a display for displaying the iris pattern which is captured by the camera. When the user""s iris pattern is captured, a position of the eye which is the object to be captured is adjusted by the user while the user watches the image of the iris pattern displayed on a screen of the display. To adjust the position, the user moves his/her head to align a center of the iris image, which appears on the screen, with a center of the display, or the user changes an angle of the camera to align them. After the adjustment, the captured iris pattern is transferred as the image information to a security management device. In the security management device, the captured iris pattern is registered if the user""s iris pattern has not previously been registered during the current use, or the captured iris pattern is compared with registered iris patterns which are stored in a memory of the security management device. As the result of the comparison, the individual is identified.
However, if the user turns his/her eyes upon the display to adjust the position during the capture, the image of the iris pattern on the screen is tilted from the center of the display because the user""s eyes are not facing the camera. On the other hand, if the user turns his/her eyes upon the camera, the user can not confirm whether or not the center of image of his/her iris pattern is aligned to the center of the mark on the screen. That is, it is difficult for the user to adjust the position of the image of his/her iris pattern on the screen by himself or herself.
One purpose of the invention is to provide an image-input device to capture an image at a desired position.
Another purpose of the invention is to provide an image-input device with which the user can position an image of an iris pattern at a desired location precisely and easily.
To achieve the above-described purposes, the image-input device of the invention has input means for capturing an image of an object, display means which has an edge for displaying the image and optical means, disposed between the input means and the display, for passing a visible light element from the image displayed on the display means, and for reflecting a near infrared light from the object to be input to the input means. Further, the image-input device includes a connector for removably coupling the input means to the edge of the display in a stable condition such that the optical means is disposed between the input means and display means. The input means can easily be removed from the display by loosening the connector.
Furthermore, the image-input device includes a memory, such as a hard disk, which registers an iris pattern, a comparator for comparing the registered iris pattern with a captured iris pattern, and a network access means for allowing access to a network if the captured iris pattern is confirmed to be the registered iris pattern.
Moreover, the image-input device further includes a portable terminal device which has a display, a memory and a random access memory. After the comparison of the captured iris pattern temporarily stored in the RAM and the registered iris pattern data in the memory is performed, it is decided whether or not a predetermined software which is stored in the memory is activated. If it is the first time registration, the captured iris pattern is registered in the memory.